All-round good bloke (and Empire spirit animal following his barnstorming performance in The Guest), Dan Stevens is going to be beastly again. But this time it’s for a good cause as he’s in talks to play one of the title roles opposite Emma Watson in Disney’s new, live-action take on Beauty And The Beast. And he’s not the only one. Luke Evans is also close to a role in the filmas Gaston.
With a script that has most recently seen work from Stephen Chbosky, **Beauty And The Beast **will once more unspool the tale of the young woman (Watson) who is romanced by a cursed prince turned into a beast (Stevens), and ultimately chooses the hairy creature over her jealous suitor, Gaston (Evans). He, in turn, deals with the rejection somewhat awkwardly, gathering a mob of townspeople to hunt down and try to kill the creature.
Bill Condon is wrangling the Mouse House’s latest attempt to rework one of its classic fairy-tale films, following in the footsteps of Alice In Wonderland and Cinderella. He’s set to start shooting later in the year, with no specific release date set as of yet.
Stevens will next be seen in Tom McCarthy's The Cobbler,** **out on May 22 and The Ticket, which has yet to lock in a date. Evans is back on our screens later this year in Ben Wheatley’s **High-Rise **(more on that here), and is squeezing in work on Message From The King opposite Chadwick Boseman, before heading back into Wheatley world for gang crime thriller Free Fire.